ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE   STUDENTS  OF 


MORNING  STAR   INSTITUTE, 


NASHVI  LLE,    IM.   C, 


May  29,  1857. 


BY 


WM.   F.   GREEN,  ESQ. 


fJuMtejjrir  Jg  &zqutst. 


RALEIGH: 

HOLDEN  &  WILSON,  PRINTERS  TO  THE  STATE. 

1857. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOgree_0 


* 

Nashville,  N.  C,  ifoy  29,  1857. 
Dear  Sir: 

We,  a  Committee  of  the  Students  of  the  Morning  Star  Institute,  respectfully 
solicit  a  copy  of  the  Address  you  delivered  before  us  to-day. 

Let  us  assure  you  we  highly  appreciate,  and  will  endeavor  to  follow,  the  coun- 
sel contained  in  your  excellent  and  instructive  Address. 
With  profcund  respect, 

We  remain  your  obedient  servants, 
ELIAS  BUNN, 

J.  B.  BARNES,         )■  Committee. 
W.  H.  BLOUNT, 
W.  F.  Green,  Esq. 


Louisburg,  N.  C,  June  9,  1857. 
Dear  Sirs  : 

Your  very  polite  and  flattering  note  of  the  29th  ult.,  in  which  you  request  a 
copy  of  the  Address  I  had  the  honor  to  deliver  before  you  on  that  day  for  publica- 
tion, is  duly  appreciated. 

Whilst  I  am  satisfied  the  Address  does  not  merit  the  complimentary  terms  in 
which  you  speak  of  it,  yet  if  the  counsel  attempted  to  be  given  shall  be  of  service  to 
you  as  intimated,  I  yield  to  your  solicitation  and  place  a  copy  at  your  disposal. 
With  sincere  regard,  and  earnest  wishes  for  your  success  and  happiness, 

I  am, 

Yours,  most  truly, 

WM.  F.  GREEN. 
Messrs.  Elias  Bunn,     ) 

J.  B.  Barnes,    >•  Committee. 
W.  H.  Blount,  ) 


0* 


H» 


ADDRESS 


Young  Gentlemen  of  the  Morning-  Star  Institute  i  . 

Had  I  yielded  to  inclination,  rather  than  a  sense  of  duty 
and  an  earnest  desire  to  contribute  to  your  pleasure  and  to 
the  noble  enterprise  which  brings  us  together  this  day,  the 
task  you  have  imposed  upon  me  would  have  fallen  upon 
another  more  competent.  And  even  now  I  could  wish  you 
had  selected  some  devotee  of  learning,  of  deep  and  varied 
research,  who  had  penetrated  farther  the  mazy  windings  of 
life's  pathway — some  bold  and  successful  adventurer  in  the 
fields  of  literature,  who  would  return  and  meet  you  on  this 
festive  occasion — meet  you,  as  you  press  forward  in  your 
joyous  march,  full  of  life  and  of  hope  and  of  youthful  fancy ; 
and  here,  by  this  leaping  fountain  of  knowledge,  unfold  to 
you  the  rich  treasures  of  a  well-stored  mind  and  the  expe- 
rience of  riper  years. 

The  occasion,  young  gentlemen,  is  one  full  of  interest 
and  fit  for  calm  reflection.  Some  of  you  may  regard  it  as 
the  end  of  labor  and  toil.  Impatient  of  restraint  and  the 
wholesome  discipline  of  the  schoolroom,  you  may  look  to 
it  as  the  harbinger  of  a  bright  and  happy  vacation,  when 
text-books  shall  be  laid  by,  and  the  tuition  of  your  instruc- 
tors dispensed  with  for  a  season ;  when  with  minds  as  free 
from  care  as  the  very  breeze  that  fans  the  rosy  tinted 
cheek  of  health,  you  shall  press  once  more,  with  elastic 
step,  nature's  velvet  lawn — dash  with  nimble  foot  the  pearly 
dew  drop  from  the  wild  flower's  cup,  and  listen  with  de- 
lighted ear  to  the  untaught  carols  of  gay-plumed  birds, 
along  the  fringed  banks  of  the  murmuring  silver  brook. 

But,  in  the  bosoms  of  parents  and  friends,  the  occasion 
has  awakened  feelings  of  a  graver  and  deeper  concern. 
The   anxiety  depicted   upon   each   countenance,   and   the 


6 


watchful  attention  given  your  past  exercises,  can  not  fail 
to  impress  upon  your  minds  the  fact,  that  they  have  been 
scanning  the  application  and  proficiency  of  each  one  of  you 
during  the  past  session,  and  marking  well  the  promises  of 
your  youth. 

With  earnest  hope  and  unfaltering  patience  will  they 
wait  for  after-years  to  redeem  the  promises  of  this  blooming 
springtime  of  your  life.  You  can  redeem  every  pledge  and 
promise  of  your  youth — you  can  more  than  realize '  your 
own  and  the  highest  expectations  of  parents  and  friends :  if 
you  but  make  the  firm  resolve  to  so,  the  work  is  half  per- 
formed. 

Nature  has  done  all  for  you  that  wisdom  and  power 
could  conceive  and  execute.  Man  is  the  last  work  of  the 
Almighty,  and  the  crowning  glory  of  his  creation.  Other 
creatures  are  formed  prone  to  earth,  grovelling  in  dispos- 
ition, and  ■"  obedient  to  appetite."  But  behold  the  erect 
posture  of  man,  the  symmetry  of  his  mechanism,  and  the 
nobleness  of  his  bearing ! — they  bespeak  the  superiority  and 
excellence  of  his  creation.  Look  upon  the  form  divine  of 
the  youth  who  is  in  the  act  of  transition  from  puberty  to 
manhood !  His  blood  leaps  through  his  veins,  and  the  ga- 
zelle bounding  o'er  the  flowery  lawn  is  not  more  agile  and 
airy  than  he.  His  eye  and  cheek  bespeak  the  varied  emo- 
tions of  his  soul.  His  voice  is  attuned  to  harmony,  and  the 
graces  of  his  person  and  the  manliness  of  his  form,  vie  with 
each  other  for  excellence.  It  is  full  of  life  and  beauty  and 
majesty,  that  youthful  form — a  model  inimitable  by  the 
chisel  of  a  Phidias  or  a  Praxitiles ! 

But  how  much  more  to  be  wondered  at  and  admired  is 
the  living  principle  that  rules  and  animates  that  form  !  The 
body,  however  beautiful  and  majestic,  is  of  the  earth, 
earthy — it  fades  and  decays.  Its  sphere  of  action  is  limited 
and  circumscribed.  It  has  speed  of  feet,  but  no  wings  with 
which  to  fly.  It  may  scale  the  mountain  summit,  but  it 
can  rise  no  higher.  But  who  or  what  can  limit  or  circum- 
scribe that  intangible  and  spiritual  essence,  the  human 
mind !     Princes  have  shut  up  with  iron  bars  and  grates  the 


bodies  of  their  subjects,  hoping  to  check  what  they  con- 
sidered the  inroads  of  heresy  and  the  erratic  flights  of 
thought.  But  even  there,  amid  the  damp  vapors  of  a  loath- 
some cell,  with  an  eye  turned  inward,  it  woukj  draw  upon 
its  own  treasured  resources,  and  revel  in  the  fancies  of  its 
own  imagination.  On  the  wings  of  the  morning  it  flies  to 
meet  the  sun  at  his  rising,  follows  him  in  his  course  through 
the  heavens,  till  his  brighter  glory  is  withdrawn,  then 
watches  each  star  as  with  silent  step  of  fear  it  steals  forth ; 
chases  the  comet  in  its  eccentric  flight  through  the  depths 
of  space,  noting  its  returns  at  intervals  of  an  hundred  years, 
even  to  the  very  day,  hour  and  moment.  Turning  to  earth, 
it  penetrates  her  darkest  abodes,  and  walks  among  her  hid- 
den fires,  or  dives  into  the  depths  of  ocean  and  gathers  her 
pearly  wealth.  Standing  upon  the  present,  an  isthmus  of 
time,  it  looks  back  upon  -the  sea  of  the  past,  and  forward 
into  that  of  the  future.  It  holds  converse  with  the  men  of 
other  days — the  patriots,  sages,  and  heroes  of  antiquity ; 
weighs  their  deeds  in  the  balances  of  enlightened  reason,  and 
approves  or  condemns  them.  It  sits  by  the  side  of  the  Ptole- 
mies and  Pharoahs  of  Egypt ;  beholds  the  sculptor  giving 
form  to  the  Sphynx,  and  hears  the  busy  hum  of  industry  and 
the  sharp  clink  of  the  mason's  chisel,  fashioning  the  granite 
blocks  of  the  pyramids ;  attends  iEneas  in  his  flight  to 
Italy,  and,  with  the  twin  brothers,  lays  the  first  stone  in  the 
walls  of  imperial  Pome.  It  is  familiar  with  the  philosophy 
of  Socrates  and  Plato,  and  with  the  noble  band  of  Grecian 
youth  that  follow  in  their  train — delights  "  inter  sylvas 
Academi  qucerere  verumP  It  is  in  the  assembly  when  the 
fire  and  persuasive  tones  of  Demosthenes'  eloquence  move 
the  Greeks  like  a  troubled  sea  against  Philip  and  his  hosts. 
It  is  in  the  Roman  Senate  when  Cicero  denounces  the  fierce 
Cataline  as  a  conspirator  and  an  enemy  to  his  country.  It 
marks  alike  the  progress  of  Empires  and  of  States,  discern- 
ing the  springs  of  prosperity  and  greatness,  and  the  causes 
of  dissolution  and  decay.  Laden  with  the  knowledge  and 
experience  afforded  by  the  past,  it  goes  to  work  for  the 


present  and  the  future.  It  conceives,  it  plans,  it  executes, 
How  mysterious  and  grand  its  operations  ! 

And  yet,  if  we  are  lost  in  astonishment  at  the  capacity  of 
human  intellect,  which  is  but  a  scintillation  stricken  out 
from  the  Great  Source  of  light,  how  utterly  futile  become  all 
attempts  to  comprehend  the  infinitude  of  mind  possessed 
by  the  great  I  Am  !  who  fashioned  the  spheres  and  rolled 
them  from  his  mighty  hand  into  the  immensity  of  space, 
and  so  wisely  adjusted. the  power  of  attraction  and  of  cen- 
trifugal force,  that  each  amid  the  millions  in  motion  should 
move  in  harmony  in  its  respective  orbit ;  who  so  inclined 
each  planet  upon  its  axis,  that,  as  it  moves  around  its  com- 
mon centre  of  attraction,  it  shall  experience  the  vicissitudes 
of  day  and  of  night  and  of  seasons. 

Such  and  far  greater  is  the  Author  of  our  being,  and  so 
great  are  the  gifts  and  capacities  of  mind  and  of  body  with 
which  He  has  blessed  us. 

But,  young  gentlemen,  these  gifts  and  talents  are  of  no 
avail  and  useless,  unless  they  be  cultivated  and  improved. 
These  are  capabilities  rather  than  powers  positive  and  ac- 
tive of  themselves.  Like  a  beautiful  statue  undeveloped 
in  a  rough  block  of  marble,  requiring  the  chisel  and  the 
skill  of  the  sculptor  to  reveal  it  to  the  eye ;  or,  like  the 
acorn  which  holds  the  giant  oak  in  embryo,  it  must  needs 
have  air,  heat  and  moisture,'  before  it  can  shoot  forth 
branches  and  spread  a  refreshing  shade.  From  the  very 
beginning,  a  decree  unquestionably  designed  for  man's  hap- 
piness has  gone  forth  as  the  accompaniment  of  these  high 
powers.  God  has  declared  by  the  silent  and  inflexible  laws 
of  metaphysics,  that  no  mental  excellence  shall  be  attained 
without  labor  determined  and  continual.  Those  articles 
which  are  of  great  price  and  value  are  the  equivalents  of 
much  labor  and  toil.  Things  of  little  worth  float  upon  the 
surface,  but  he  that  would  gather  pearls  must  dive  to  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean.  So  this  work  of  mental  improvement 
and  self-development,  so  full  of  promise  and  rich  reward,  is 
one  of  determination  and  unceasing  labor.  It  is  a  work 
which  must  be  performed  by  each  one  of  you  for  himself — 


9 


it  cannot  "be  done  by  proxy,  no,  never  by  another.  There 
has  not  yet  been  discovered  any  cunning  or  device  by  which 
this  law  of  mental  development  can  be  evaded.  You  may 
and  you  ought  to  be  assisted,  but  the  work  can  never  be 
accomplished  without. your  free  and  hearty  co-opera';ion. 
And  now  is  the  time  to  lay  the  foundation  deep  and  strong, 
to  work  manfully  upon  the  superstructure,  and  rear  at  least 
the  frame-work  of  an  education,  in  these  halcyon  days  of 
your  youth,  in  this  spring-time  of  life,  when  the  body  is 
healthful  and  vigorous,  and  the  mind  quick  to  receive  im- 
pressions. And  need  I  portray  to  yon  the  advantages,  and 
argue  the  necessity  of  cultivating  and  improving  your 
talents?  Do  not  the  age  and  the  country  in  which  you  live, 
and  the  loveliness  of  polite  literature,  as  well  as  the  useful- 
ness and  sublimity  of  science  hold  out  to  you  sufficient  in- 
ducements to  labor  and  to  study?  I  say  the  age,  because 
it  is  one  of  rapid  and  onward  progress— lethargy  and  su- 
pineness  can  no  longer  be  tolerated.  Things  move  at  the 
whistle  of  the  steam  engine  and  the  quick  click  of  the  tele- 
graph. 

Just  now,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
is  the  inventive  genius  of  man,  aided  by  art  and  untiring 
industry,  unfolding  upon  a  grand  scale  the  hidden  resources 
of  the  material  world,  constraining  unwilling  contribution 
from  intractable  matter  to  the  comfort,  convenience  and 
happiness  of  the  race.  Now  do  the  white  sails  of  com- 
merce catch  every  breeze,  and  the  prow  of  the  majestic 
ship  lash  into  foam  the  bosom  of  the  ocean,  as  she  bears 
along  the  fruits  of  industry  from  every  clime  and  nation 
upon  the  globe.  Now  does  the  iron  horse,  with  breath  of 
fire  and  lungs  that  know  no  fatigue,  dash  over  the  plains, 
waking  with  shrill  neigh  sleeping  echo  in  the  hills  and  val- 
leys, carrying  the  mineral  and  agricultural  wealth  of  rural 
and  inland  districts,  and  with  unwonted  velocity  and  the 
comfort  of  the  "fireside,  transporting  the  curious,  the  pleas- 
ure-seeking and  the  merchant  to  scenes  of  attraction  and 
the  busy  marts  of  trade.  Now  does  the  power-press  repro- 
duce in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  wisdom  and  philosophy 


10 


of  departed  sages ;  set  forth  the  elaborated  thoughts  and 
ideas  Of  the  statesman,  metaphysician  and  divine,  dissem- 
inating knowledge  in  every  town,  village  and  private  circle 
wherever  education  has  shot  a  ray  of  light — compared  with 
which  the  slow  plodding  of  the  ancient  manuscript  copyist 
sinks  into  insignificance,  and  the  wonder  arises  that  knowl- 
edge so  fettered  increased  at  all.  ~Now  does  the  benign  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  take  into  its  embrace  the  moral  na- 
ture of  mankind,  purifying  the  heart  and  elevating  the 
thoughts  and  affections  to  objects  invisible  and  eternal. 

This  being  the  onward  march  of  the  age  in  which  we  live, 
there  can  be  no  time  for  loitering,  no  time  for  delay.  If 
you  would  enter  the  lists,  you  must  do  so  girded  and  pre- 
pared for  the  race.  If  you  stop  on  the  way  for  preparation, 
you  lose  the  prize,  you  fail  to  reach  the  goal  of  honorable 
distinction  and  bechronicled  in  the  legends  of  renown.  I 
say  the  country  in  which  3^011  live,  because  it  holds  out  to 
you  high  inducements  and  honorable  rewards — by  reason 
of  its  free  and  happy  institutions,  its  genial  climate,  its  fruit- 
ful soil,  its  majestic  rivers,  its  mountains  of  mineral  wealth, 
and  its  mighty  commerce  on  the  great  oceans  that  wash  its 
shores.  Our  government  recognizes  no  favored  class,  no 
royal  blood,  entitled,  by  the  accident  of  birth,  to  high  pre- 
rogative, to  position  and  honor.  Our  constitution  expressly 
and  wisely  excludes  all  titles  of  nobility,  of  pomp  and  of 
heraldry.  The  road  to  distinction  and  fame  lies  open,  and 
invites  alike  the  beggar's  boy  and  the  millionare's  son.  The 
only  requisites  demanded  for  office  and  promotion,  are  vir- 
tue and  capacity  in  the  aspirant ;  and  these  alone  must  be 
looked  to  in  all  free  governments,  if  they  are  to  be  perpetu- 
ated, if  they  are  to  continue  prosperous  and  happy. 

Your  fathers  now,  nnder  the  providence  of  Heaven, 
wield  at  the  ballot-box  the  destiny  of  this  country  ;  each  one 
a  ruler  and  a  sovereign  in  his  own  asserted  and  independ- 
ent right ;  acknowledging  allegiance  to  no  power  but  that 
of  the  Most  High.  Many  of  the  great  and  distinguished  men 
of  this  generation  have  already  passed  off  the  stage  of  ac- 
tion.    A  Webster,   a  Clay,  a  Calhoun  and  a  King,  have 


11 


yielded  up  their  [places  in  legislative  halls,  in  the  cabinet, 
and  at  the  council-board  of  the  nation.  It  must  be,  when 
such  brilliant  lights  go  out  in  the  political  firmament,  that 
a  shadow  will  fall  upon  the  land :  this  shadow  can  alone  be 
dispelled  by  the  rising  of  new  luminaries  of  intellect,  of 
equal  effulgence  and  brightness. 

You,  young  gentlemen,  are  the  heirs  apparent  to  the 
sovereignty  of  this  great  Republic.  Soon  your  fathers  and 
the  entire  troop  of  actors  upon  the  political  arena,  will  pass 
away,  and  you  will  be  called  upon  to  take  their  places  in 
the  pulpit,  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  halls  of  State  and  federal 
legislation.  You  will  be  compelled  to  assume  the  trust  and 
the  responsibility  of  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  greatest 
and  most  powerful  free  government  upon  the  face  of 
the  globe.  To  you  will  be  confided  'the  control  of  our 
army  and  navy  and  vast,  commercial  relations  with  the 
powers  of  the  earth.  To  your  keeping  will  be  entrusted 
that  sacred  emanation  of  the  wisdom  of  our  forefathers — the 
American  Constitution ;  and  upon  your  interpretation  of  its 
principles,  and  adherence  to  them,  will  depend  the  future 
union  and  harmony  and  confederation  of  States,  and  the 
happy  solution  of  that  great  problem — the  capacity  of 
man  for  self-government.  Into  your  hands  will  be  placed 
the  flag-staff  of  our  glorious  "stars  and  stripes,"  never  yet 
dishonored,  never  jet  trailed  in  the  dust  before  mortal  foe ; 
upon  you  will  depend  the  protection  of  this  ensign  of  our 
glory,  this  escutcheon  of  our  fame.  It  guards  and  shields 
us  now  from  insult  and  attack,  by  recollection,  on  the  part 
of  our  enemies,  of  the  prowess,  the  chivalry,  and  patiiotism 
of  our  fathers ;  the  many  hard  contested  and  bloody  battle- 
fields over  which  it  has  proudly  waved,  though  tattered  in 
shreds,  yet  in  victory  and  triumph.  But  if  yon  shall  suffer 
it,  while  in  your  custody,  to  be  insulted  and  trampled  upon, 
it  will  no  longer,  as  now,  protect,  wherever  its  azure  field  is 
unfurled,  our  commerce  and  trade  and  our  citizens,  whether 
they  roam  upon  the  high  seas  or  on  foreign  soil.  These  are 
grave  trusts  and  responsible  duties,  for  the  proper  and  faith- 


12 


ful  performance  of  which  posterity  will  hold  you  to  a  strict 
account. 

The  true  and  faithful  performance  of  them  will  depend 
upon  the  amoint  of  intelligence  and  virtue  and  patriotism 
you  shall  bring  to  ^he  undertaking.  If  you  shall  come  to 
the  task  prepared,  as  you  should  be,  the  gray-headed  sires 
of  the  land  will  commit  to  your  charge,  without  forebodings 
and  misgivings,  the  rich  heritage  and  the  future  weal  and 
destiny  of  our  country;  and  in  their  declining  years,  they 
will  fondly  hope  that  for  a  longer  time  than  lived  the  Bo- 
man  Republic,  our  gallant  old  ship  of  State  will  ride,  with- 
out hurt  or  damage,  the  storms  of  internal  strife,  of  faction 
and  fanaticism,  and  of  foreign  hate.  As  these  are  high  and 
responsible  trusts,  let  me  urge  you  to  make  yourselves  equal 
to  the  occasion  whenever  they  shall  fall  upon  you  ;  and  do 
not,  we  entreat  you,  mistake  the  character  of  true  greatness 
and  true  nobility,  which  alone  can  fit  you  for  their  dis- 
charge. They  consist,  as  we  confidently  assert  and  believe, 
in  virtue,  in  moral  and  intellectual  worth. 

The  time  has  been,  when  men  were  accustomed  to  look 
to  wealth  and  rank  and  ancestral  memorials  as  the  expo- 
nents of  greatness,  and  were  loath  to  acknowledge  it  with- 
out such  insignia — when  the  more  mementoes  of  great  bat- 
tles by  fathers  won,  the  more  marble  statues  and  columns 
and  paintings  one  could  boast,  the  greater  were  his  claims 
upon  his  fellow-men  for  estimation  and  honor.  Often  for 
these  have  the  people  lavished  applause  and  bestowed  their 
homage,  and  for  lack  of  them,  withheld  respect  and  hurled 
contempt.  When  Caius  Marius  w~ould  aspire  to  office  the 
people  demanded  the  evidences  of  his  rank !  "  What,"  said 
he,  "  if  I  can  show  no  family  statue,  enumerate  no  long  line 
of  illustrious  ancestors !  I  can  show  the  scars  of  those 
wounds  I  received  in  facing  the  enemies  of  my  country! 
I  can  show  the  standards  and  the  armour  I  have  taken  from 
the  vanquished !  These  are  ray  statues,  these  the  honors  I 
boast ;  not  left  me  by  inheritance,  but  earned  by  absti- 
nence, by  toil,  by  valour,  amid  clouds  of  dust  and  seas  of 
blood." 


13 


The  power  of  wealth  to  confer  honor  is  exceeding  great. 
Where  riches  are  amassed,  men  gather  like  vampires  at- 
tracted by  the  smell  of  blood,  to  pay  homage  and  fan  the 
breeze  of  flattery.  It  can  make  fawning  parasites  liberal 
of  their  bought  praises  ;  it  can  throw  the  mantle  of  a  venial 
charity  over  the  crimes  of  high  places ;  extenuate  them  by 
the  fascinations  of  eloquence ;  embellish  them  by  the  flow- 
ing numbers  of  the  poet's  lay,  and  soften  them  by  the  mel- 
low tints  of  the  painter's  pencil !  But  those  who  found 
their  claims  upon  such  unstable  basis,  live  in  the  memories 
of  men  only  by  their  contact  with  the  truly  great — they  are 
the  barnacles  and  shell-fish  that  cleave  to  the  keel  of  the 
massive  ship  as  she  rides  the  ocean  billows  of  time,  and  en- 
ters, suffused  with  glory,  the  port  of  future  generations. 

"  Where  is  the  fame 
Which  the  vainglorious  of  earth 
Would  seek  to  eternize?    The  minutest  wave 
That  swells  the  flood  of  agts,  whelms  in  nothing 
.  The  unsubstantial  bubble  " 

Mental  and  moral  excellence  are  the  only  sure  basis  of  true 
nobility.  It  comes  not  by  birth,  not  by  chance,  not  by  the 
favor  or  sycophancy  of  men.  It  is  the  gift  of  heaven,  not 
of  heraldry — a  sparkling  gem  set  in  the  coronet  of  fame, 
and  polished  by  the  hand  of  industry.  Such  grandeur  and 
nobleness  of  mind  as  characterized  a  Newton,  a  Luther  and 
a  Locke — men  claiming  and  receiving  from  their  fellowT- 
men  nothing  save  only  what  their  own  intrinsic  merits  enti- 
tled them  to.  They  were  giants  traversing  the  fields  of 
thought  in  search  of  nature's  laws  and  of  truth  ;  laying  hold 
upon  the  bases  of  mountains  of  error,  and  upheaving  their 
foundations.  Pioneers  they  were  in  the  unexplored  wilds 
of  hidden  knowledge,  removing  the  accumulated  rubbish 
of  ages  in  Church  and  State  ;  levelling  hills  and  filling  up 
valleys  for  the  rapid  and  triumphant  progress  of  posterity 
to  glory  and  renown.  These  are  Heaven's  aristocracy,  the 
true  noblemen  of  earth.  They  have  erected  their  own 
monuments — not  of  granite  and  marble,  as  the  Knights  of 
Heraldry  are  wont  to  do,  but  of  that  imperishable  material, 


14 


thought, — founded  upon  a  rock  of  diamond 'brilliancy  and 
firmness,  their  stately  proportions,  self-luminous,  shall  attract 
the  gaze  of  admiring -millions.  Would  you  compare  the 
nobility  of  intellect  with  that  of  the  inheritors  of  greatness, 
go  to  Westminster  Abbey  and  behold  the  gorgeous  monu- 
ments that  rise  over  the  remains  of  England's  royalty — the 
Plantagenets,  the  Stuarts,  the  Tudors,  and  those  of  the 
house  of  Brunswick.  Compare  the  emotions  excited  in 
your  breast,  by  this  scene,  with  those  you  feel  when  view- 
ing the  plain  tombstones  that  point  out  the  ashes  of  the 
Bard  of  Avon,  of  Milton,  of  Young,  of  Thompson,  of  Gold- 
smith and  Gray — the  untitled  genius,  wit  and  learning  that 
moulder  by  their  side.  Or  count  over  the  names  of  the 
Emperors  and  Queens  that  lie  garnered  in  the  dreary  pomp 
of  monumental  marble  in  the  capuchin  vaults  of  Vienna. 
Weigh  their  dust  with  the  blood  and  calamity  of  their 
peasant's  war,  their  thirty  years  war,  and  all  the  vile  pre- 
tences for  which  they  made  their  kingdom  an  aceldama  and 
a  charnel-house.  Where  now  is  their  nobility,  where  that 
greatness  of  which  they  thought  themselves  the  sole  pro- 
prietors !  Gone !  forgotten  like  a  dream.  Their's  was  the 
name  without  the  reality,  the  shadow  without  the  substance. 
The  traveller  strolls  indifferently  by  their  mausoleums,  ad- 
mires their  magnificence  and  the  skill  of  the  architect ;  but 
regards  them  only  as  sepulchral  piles  over  corruption — the 
last  vain  attempts  of  fictitious  greatness  to  excite  admira- 
tion and  perpetuate  a  name. 

The  reigns  of  kings  and  queens,  the  titled  great  of  earth, 
have  served  little  other  purpose  than  for  the  historian  to 
mark  by  them  the  epochs  of  great  events,  the  discoveries 
and  inventions  of  the  sons  of  genius  and  of  intellect. 

It  is  unnecessary,  young  gentlemen,  and  the  time  allow- 
ed on  this  occasion  will  not  permit  one,  to  pass  in  review 
and  urge  upon  your  attention  the  advantages  of  a  thorough 
and  intimate  acquaintance  with  each  different  branch  of 
science,  of  literature  and  of  art.  These  things,  as  you  pro- 
gress, I  am  sure  will  be  fully  and  faithfully  brought  to  light 
by  your  competent  and  efficient  instructors. 


15 


But  permit  me  to  say  to  you,  that  after  you  shall  have 
completed  the  circle  of  learning  and  of  human  research, 
and  realized  the  truth  of  the  declaration  made  by  Sir  Fran- 
cis Bacon,  that  "knowledge  is  power" — after  you  shall 
have  explored,  with  Newton,  with  Ilerschel  and  La  Place, 
the  fields  of  ether,  fretted  with  golden  fires,  and  surveyed 
them  as  with  compass  and  chain ;  ascertained  the  revolu- 
tions of  planets,  and  their  physical  phenomena;  calculated 
the  velocity  of  light,  the  chances  of  eclipses  and  the  coming 
of  comets,  and  made  the  science  of  astronomy  tributary  to 
the  wants  of  commerce  and  of  navigation ;  after  you  shall 
have  penetrated,  with  Lyell,  Hugh  Miller  and  Agassiz,  the 
strata  of  the  earth's  crust,  classifying  the  fossil  remains  of 
extinct  animal  life  there  entombed,  and  read  the  changes 
and  convulsions  it  has  suffered,  as  inscribed  upon  the  pages 
of  this  mighty  book  by  the  finger  of  the  Almighty ;  after 
you  shall  have  learned,  as  far  as  revelation  and  the  pages 
of  history  can  teach,  the  past  experience  and  the  future  des- 
tiny of  the  human  race ;  after  you  shall  have  acquired  all 
this  learning,  and  much  more,  you  may  still  be  unworthy 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  your  fellow-men — you  may 
be  more  powerful  for  wickedness  and  for  evil  than  for  good 
and  virtuous  deeds.  The  heart,  with  its  affections,  must  be 
cultivated  no  less  than  the  intellect. 

I  can  point  you  to  one  who  acquired  in  an  eminent  de- 
gree all  these  helps  of  greatness  ;  a  man  of  brilliant  talents, 
of  great  learning,  eloquence,  fascinating  manners,  and  the 
most  captivating  address ;  one  of  the  few  who,  entering  the 
war  of  independence  with  ardor  and  flattering  prospects, 
disappointed  the  expectations  he  had  created,  dishonored 
the  cause  he  had  espoused,  and  ended  in  shame  and  igno- 
miny a  career  which  he  had  opened  with  splendor.  This 
man  was  the  third  Yice-President  of  the  United  States,  a 
Senator  in  Congress,  and  a  competitor  with  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son for  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  though 
he  well  knew  the  votes  he  received  had  not  been  cast  for 
that  office.  Disappointed  and  baffled  in  his  scheme  of  sel- 
fish ambition,  the  fiendish  thought  of  treason  seizes  his  soul. 


m 


16 


He  is  suspected,  arrested,  and  charged  with  the  crime,  and, 
though  acquitted,  believed  to  have  been  guilty.  Aaron 
Burr  was  destitute  of  moral  principle,  of  virtue,  and  recti- 
tude of  purpose — wanting  in  these,  he  lacked  everything. 
Better  be  the  poorest  beggar  that  crawls,  and  virtuous, 
than  brilliant  and  accomplished  as  Byron,  Yoltaire  and 
Burr,  and  vicious  as  they. 

"  Talents  augel  bright, 
If  wanting  worth,  are  shining  instruments  * 

In  false  ambition's  hand  to  finish  faults 
Illustrious  and  give  infamy  renown." 

Let  me  urge  you  then  to  invest  yourselves  and  all  the 
knowledge  you  may  acquire  in  the  robes  of  virtuous  prin- 
ciple, integrity  and  uprightness.  "Obsta  principiis."  For- 
tify yourselves  against  the  first  temptations,  the  first  allure- 
ments of  vice.  Shun  them  as  you  would  a  quicksand  or  a 
plague.  Like  Ulysses,  bind  yourselves  with  the  chords  of 
virtue  to  the  mast  of  conscious  rectitude,  and  stop  your  ears 
to  the  wooing  voice  of  Calypso  and  her  nymphs.  It  is  the 
first  false  step  in  the  paths  of  vice  which  makes  the  return 
to  virtue's  ways  difficult  to  all  and  impossible  to  many. 
Clothed  with  the  power  of  knowledge,  and  guided  by  that 
virtuous  principle  which  knows  no  indirection,  which  heeds 
not  the  suggestions  of  expediency  at  the  expense  of  right, 
a  future  radiant  with  hope  and  a  glorious  destiny  awaits 
you.  Take  courage,  then,  and  press  on  to  the  attainment 
of  true  greatness  and  true  nobility,  for  the 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime. 
And  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time; 
Footprints,  that  perchance  another 
Sailing  o'er  life's  troubled  main, 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again." 

We  should  be  guilty  of  a  breach  of  courtesy,  were  we  to 
pass  by  the  young  ladies  of  this  place,  who  are  engaged  in 
similar  pursuits,  without  a  word  of  admonition  and  coun- 


1 


scl.  If  the  time  and  occasion  permitted,  we  would  gladly 
trace  for  you,  young  ladies,  the  influences  which  appear  to 
us  to  have  been  most  efficient  in  elevating,  adorning  and 
dignifying  female  character.  We  would  gladly  go  back 
with  you  to  the  feudal  halls  and  moated  castles  of  the  "  mid- 
dle ages,"  in  which  woman  received  her  first  upward  im- 
pulse in  the  scale  of  social  existence,  and  show  you  how, 
by  the  gentleness  of  her  disposition  and  the  serenity  of  her 
manners,  she  softened,  refined  and  humanized  the  rough 
nature  of  the  sterner  sex.  How  by  the  attractions  and 
endearments  of  the  home  circle,  man  was  won  over  from 
his  migratory  life,  the  pursuits  of  war  and  the  chase,  to  the 
more  peaceful  and  profitable  employments  of  husbandry, 
of  art  and  of  industry.  We  would  gladly  attend  you  at  the 
tournament  of  knight-errantry  and  of  chivalry,  where  you 
presided  a  "  queen  of  love  and  beauty,"  dispensing  the 
honors  of  skill  and  bravery  to  the  victorious  and  gallant 
knight,  where  triumph  was  little  less  glorious,  and  at  the 
time  more  exquisitely  felt,  since  no  battlefield  could  assem- 
ble such  witnesses  of  valor.  Honor  to  the  brave  resounded 
amid  the  din  of  martial  music  from  the  lips  of  minstrels,  as 
the  gallant  knight  advanced  to  receive  the  prize  from  the 
fair  hand  of  woman,  the  surrounding  multitude  acknowl- 
edging in  the  prowess  of  that  day  an  augury  of  nobler 
deeds  yet  to  be  performed  in  his  country's  defence.  At 
this  stage  of  civilization,  when  society  was  casting  off"  its 
barbarous  nature,  and  merging  into  a  more  refined  state  of 
existence,  woman  reigned  supreme — the  extravagant  ado- 
ration man  paid  her  was  only  equalled  by  the  low  depths 
of  social  degradation  from  which  she  had  risen.  The 
wild  follies,  however,  into  which  knight-errantry  led  its 
votaries,  when  real  adventure  was  no  more  furnished, 
met  a  happy  corrective  in  that  fine  specimen  of  ridi- 
cule and  satire  administered  by  Cervantes  to  the  errant 
knight,  Don  Quixote — lopping  off  with  exquisite  touch  the 
unnatural  excesses  of  the  over-gallant,  and  presenting,  in 
bold  relief,  the  virtues  of  that  true  chivalry  on  which  rest 
woman's  claims  upon  society—whence  springs  that  true 
2 


18 


civility  unrestrained  by  the  stiffness  of  ceremony,  that 
amenity  of  manner,  that  geuuine  politeness  which  seeks  to 
heighten  the  happiness  of  companions,  those  ornaments  and 
graces  which  invest  social  intercourse  with  its  most  elegant 
and  attractive  charms. 

If,  young  ladies,  your  sex  exerted  the  influence  over  so- 
ciety we  have  ascribed  to  it-,  by  the  native  unadorned  ele- 
ments of  character  which  are  peculiarly  feminine,  by  her 
beauty,  her  grace,. her  devotion  and  constancy,  her  gentle- 
ness of  disposition  and  tenderness  of  sympathy,  ever  alive 
to  the  cries  of  wo ! — if  in  castle  hall,  she  could  sa}^  to 
man's  tumultuous  passions  " peace  be  still" — if  in  those 
mimic  scenes  of  war  over  which  she  presided  the  arbitress 
of  skill  and  valor,  by  an  approving  smile  or  a  gentle  wave 
of  the  hand  she  could  nerve  the  arm  of  the  gallant  knight 
for  feats  of  courage — if  by  communion  with  her  she  could 
soften  his  rough  nature,  humanize  his  heart,  and  restrain 
his  lawless  spirit — what,  allow  me  to  ask,  will  be  the  influ- 
ence you  must  exert  upon  society,  when  by  intellectual 
culture  you  shall  adorn  these  native  elements  of  character 
with  the  accomplishments  of  art,  of  science,  of  a  purer 
taste  and  a  holier  Christianity?  Like  the  circling  wave 
from  the  stone  cast  into  the  bosom  of  the  placid  lake,  it 
will  widen,  silently  diffusing  itself,  until  it  breaks  upon  the 
farthest  shore  of  civilization. 

It  does  not  follow,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  that  you 
will  exert  an  influence  so  great,  or  for  good.  You  may. 
But  it  will  depend  upon  the  cultivation  and  proper  exercise 
of  the  powers  with  which  you  have  been  blest. 

You  live  in  an  age  remarkable  for  intelligent  and  liberal 
sentiment.  You  enjoy  greater  privileges  and  advantages 
than  have  been  vouchsafed  to  woman  at  any  previous  pe- 
riod of  the  world's  existence.  A  deeper  and  livelier  in- 
terest is  felt  in  the  cause  of  female  education  and  the  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  knowledge  than  ever  heretofore,  and  in 
like  degree  is  expectation  aroused  and  your  responsibilities 
increased.  It  will  not  be  sufficient  that  you  skim,  as  on 
swallow's  wing,  the  surface  of  knowledge,  delighted  with 


19 


the  babbles- of  fancy  that  float  and  vanish  at  the  touch — you 
must  seek  the  gems  of  "  purest  ray  "  that  lie  in  the  deeper 
waters.  Be  not  content  to  flit  from  flower  to  flower  gath- 
ering nectared  sweets,  unconscious  of  their  nature,  or  the 
source  from  whence  they  spring. 

Think  not  that  it  is  the  end  of  your  being,  or  the  excel- 
lence of  female  character,  to  adorn  the  person  ,with  the  or- 
namental charms  of  flashing  silk,  fine  gauze  and  tinsel,  to 
follow  with  obsequious  devotion  the  ever-varying  phases  of 
capricious  fashion,  or  with  French  belles  to  radiate  the  fea- 
tures with  the  powdered  dust  of  the  diamond ;  but  strive 
rather  to  obtain  the  richer  ornament,  the  brighter  radiance 
and  more  substantial  charm  which  intellectual  culture  be- 
stows. 

The  proper  training  and  development  of  the  mind  does 
not  consist  in  accumulating  and  storing  away  in  memory 
the  facts  which  history  discloses,  or  the  truths  science  re- 
veals ;  but  in  a  correct  understanding  and  just  apprehen- 
sion of  the  relatioi?  and  bearing  of  one  fact,  one  truth  upon 
other  facts  and  other  truths.  There  does  not  exist  in  phy- 
sics or  morals  a  single  fact  or  truth,  standing  solitary  and 
alone,  without  its  relations  to  antecedents  and  results.  An 
unbroken  chain  links  each  fact  in  the  Universe  from  the 
original  fiat  of  the  Almighty  to  the  latest  moment  of  time. 
To  trace  the  connexion  between  cause  and  effect,  to  com- 
prehend the  fitness  and  propriety  of  things,  the  purpose 
and  design  of  the  Creator  which  everywhere  exist,  though 
often  misunderstood,  to  know  our  duty  to  ourselves,  to  so- 
ciety, and  to  God,  and  fit  ourselves  for  its  faithful  discharge, 
is  the  end  of  knowledge  and  of  reason. 

True,  you  have  not  the  same  length  of  time  alotted,  nor 
the  same  facilities  furnished  to  pursue  an  uninterrupted 
course  of  study,  with  the  opposite  sex.  Our  universities 
teem  with  a  greater  number  of  volumes ;  a  more  numerous 
corps  of  learned  professors  are  employed,  as  well  as  a  great- 
er variety  of  astronomical,  philosophical  and  chemical  ap- 
paratus, to  pry  into  the  secrets  of  nature  and  demonstrate 
the  truths  of  scientific  discovery.     It  is  not  expected  that  you 


20 


will  acquire  a  deeper  or  more  varied  learning  than  the 
other  sex;  but  you  may  and  you  ought  to  ]3i*ess  closely  up-' 
on  the  footsteps  of  the  boldest  adventurer  in  the  regions  of 
thought.  You  may  not,  with  Herschell,  point  the  telescope 
to  the  bright  orbs  that  move  in  silent  majesty  in  the  un- 
fathomable depths  of  space;  nor,  with  Humboldt  and 
Hugh  Miller,  ascend  the  rugged  heights  of  the  volcano,  and 
hang  over  its  burning  crater,  or  penetrate  the  strata  of  the 
earth,  and  trace  the  "footprints  of  the  creator"  in  its  once 
yielding  crust ;  nor,  with  Prescott,  Bancroft  and  Hawks, 
gather  from  musty  volumes  and  obscure  manuscripts  the 
facts  and  great  events  which  make  up  the  history  and  char- 
acter of  a  people.  But  you  ought  and  you  may  know  the 
result  of  their  researches,  in  a  much  shorter  time  than  they 
were  engaged  in  making  them ;  you  can  realize  the  full 
benefits  of  their  labors  and  discoveries.  -  No  chilling  penury 
now  clips  the  wings  of  youthful  aspiration.  Parents  and 
guardians  have  a  lively  appreciation  of  the  real  advantage 
and  priceless  worth  of  solid  learning  and  polite  literature., 
The  time  has  been  when  the  father  looked  with  a  miser's 
eye  upon  his  gold,  and  would  have  sooner  excluded  the 
light  of  heaven  from  the  soul  of  his  child  than  have  parted 
with  his  treasure.  That  day  of  ignorance  is  fast  closing — 
its  beclouded  sun  rapidly  sinking  beneath  the  horizon.  All 
over  our  lovely  heritage,  in  town  and  sequestered  retreat, 
are  established  and  springing  up,  as  by  magic,  seminaries  of 
learning,  devoted  to  female  education,  whence  flow  per- 
ennial streams  of  intelligence  and  virtue  that  water  and 
gladden  our  country. 

"We  rejoice  at  the  zeal  and  energy  now  manifested  by  the 
Old  North  State  in  behalf  of  her  daughters.  It  is  fit  that 
she  who  first  breathed  the  thought  of  liberty  and  indepen- 
dence— who  first  unsheathed  the  sword  and  defied  the  ty- 
rant's will — should  be  among  the  foremost  in  that  race 
whose  goal  and  end  is  the  rescue  and  redemption  of  mind 
from  the  thraldom  of  ignorance  and  the  gloom  of  super- 
stition. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  once  asked  Madame  DeStael,  one  of 


21 


the  brightest  intellects  of  your  sex,  how  he  should  best  pro- 
mote the  happiness  of  the  French  people.  Her  reply  was, 
"Instruct  the  women  of  France."  Woman  is  the  kind  and 
affectionate  teacher  of  the  race.  She  watches  with  mater- 
nal care  and  love  the  first  budding  of  promise,  and  trains 
with  gentle  hand  the  tender  sprigs  of  thought.  She  toils 
day  and  night  to  fit  us  for  the  fierce  conflicts  of  life,  for  use- 
fulness and  distinction.  When  we  quit  the  parental  roof, 
she  gives  us  a  shield  and  tells  us  to  "  come  back  with  it  or 
upon  it."  If  we  shall  succeed,  if  fortune  shall  favor,  and 
honor  be  our  reward,  we  flee  for  a  while  the  storm  and 
the  strife  of  the  world,  to  revisit  the  old  homestead  and  lay 
that  honor  at  the  feet  of  a  mother  who  has  watched  with 
joy  our  upward  career.  It  is  enough  for  woman  that  she 
fashions  the  mind  and  gives  tone  to  the  character  of  him 
who  shall  command  fleets  and  lead  armies  to  battle;  whose 
eloquence  shall  move  and  calm  the  excited  masses  of  the 
people.  Let  not,  then,  vaulting  ambition,  the  pride  of 
learning  and  thirst  for  fame,  usurp  the  throne  in  her  heart, 
where  gentleness,  submissiveness  and  patience  ought  to 
reign.  Let  her  not  reach  forth  her  tiny  hand  to  grasp  the 
helm  and  guide  the  ship  of  State  over  the  heaving  sea  of 
political  strife — it  is  beyond  her  sphere  of  action — a  labor 
too  great  and  hazardous  for  her.  Her  throne  is  in  the  so- 
cial circle ;  the  household  altar  is  her  place  of  worship  and 
service.  Here  the  virtues  and  the  graces  of  female  char- 
acter bloom  and  shed  their  sweetest  fragrance.  Behold  the 
ardor  of  her  plighted  love,  and  the  strength  of  her  devo- 
tion, as  exemplified  in  the  classic  story  of  "  Penelope's  web." 
For  ten  long  years  Ulysses  is  in  the  camp  and  siege  of 
Troy,  for  ten  years  more  he  is  detained  by  adverse  winds 
from  the  pleasures  of  home  and  the  joys  of  the  social  circle  ; 
still,  for  a  score  of  years,  his  faithful  spouse  deludes  impor- 
tunate suitors,  weaves  and  unweaves  her  tapestried  web, 
anxiously  awaiting  and  hoping  for  the  joyous  return  of  her 
lord.  Look  upon  the  disconsolate  and  inconsolable  widow 
of  the  lamented  Sir  John  Franklin!  Her  affectionate  de- 
votion has  touched  the  chords  of  sympathy  in   all  hearts 


99 


throughout  the  civilized  world  ;  when  hope  for  the  return 
of  Sir  John  has  withered  and  died  in  all  other  minds  ;  when 
voyage  after  voyage  of  exploration  and  discovery  have  re- 
turned, with  no  satisfactory  tidings  of  his  own  or  the  des- 
tiny of  his  crew ;  still  faithful  and  hopeful,  she  is  this  day 
gathering  together  the  fragments  of  her  fortune,  to  lit  out 
another  expedition  for  his  relief,  if  it  be  that  he  yet  lives. 
Still,  for  her,  does  hope  plume  its  white  wings  to  search 
amid  the  thick  gloom,  the  everlasting  snows  and  icebergs  of 
the  arctic  region,  for  a  lost  husband.  Woman  alone  is  ca- 
pable of  such  constancy  and  such  devotion. 

It  has  been  well  said  "that  as  the  vine  which  has  long 
twined  its  graceful  foliage  about  the  oak,  and  been  lifted 
by  it  into  sunshine,  will,  when  the  hardy  plant  has  been 
rifled  by  the  thunderbolt,  cling  round  it  with  its  caressing 
tendrils,  and  bind  up  its  shattered  boughs;  so  is  it  beauti- 
fully ordered  by  Providence,  that  woman,  who  is  the  de- 
pendent and  ornament  of  man  in  his  happier  hours,  should 
be  his  stay  and  solace  when  smitten  with  sudden  calamity, 
winding  herself  into  the  rugged  recesses  of  his  nature,  ten- 
derly supporting  the  drooping  head,  and  binding  up  the 
broken  heart.  This  is  her  province,  this  the  orbit  in  which 
she  ought  to  move,  except  when,  like,  the  morning  star,  she 
deigns  to  issue  forth  to  the  world  in  her  beauty  and  grace, 
scattering  her  approving  smiles  upon  all  that  can  appre- 
ciate her  worth ;  then  she  retires  to  her  home  again,  like 
that  star  sinking  in  the  west,  and  the  refining  influence 
of  her  presence  is  as  the  soft  twilight  that  lingers  long  be- 
hind a  bright  and  joyous  day. 


